March 9, 2018 Newsletter

MRF Is Proud To Welcome New AmeriCorps Member And Monitoring Updates.

Happy almost spring!

I hear the fishing is amazing though with all of the snow I haven’t given up skiing quite yet– – be sure to check the snowpack report further down in the newsletter. If you are out there fishing remember to #Keepemwet and watch this great new video. We have been busy the first couple months of the year, which started with a database reboot– keep a look out for a member survey in the coming weeks.

In case you missed it, Yellowstone National Park announced a felt sole boot ban in the park, this is a huge step in protecting against aquatic invasive species as they can carry microorganisms even after cleaning. I hope they soon implement this in all of Montana and I encourage you to wear rubber soled boots as they trap fewer organisms than felt and can be cleaned with water and a scrub brush. Full release here.

Come by and see us! Drop in hours starting April 1st: Tuesday and Thursday 10-2pm, please feel free to stop in, ask questions, and see our huge new riparian restoration plan map.

MRF is proud to welcome a new AmeriCorps Member!

Tess has just joined our team as the 2018 Big Sky Watershed Corps member.
Originally from Albany, New York, she attended Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York for a degree in Mathematics. Since her graduation in 2015 she has worked in a multitude of settings throughout the United States including an environmental summer camp in the Adirondack mountains of New York, as an AmeriCorps National Civilian Community Corps (NCCC) member working with the Tucson Village Farm, the Oklahoma United Methodist Church Disaster Response Corps, and El Rancho Cima, Boy Scout Camp. She recently moved to Ennis after a spending a year working for the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. In her spare time, you can typically find Tess outside running, hiking, skiing or kayaking.

Riparian Plan Update

The Foundation is excited that the Riparian Restoration Plan for the Upper Madison River from Geum Environmental Consulting is almost done. The goals for the completed plan are:

Increase riparian tree and shrub cover in areas where historical land management practices have reduced or eliminated riparian forests and shrub lands.

Provide more shade and cover for fish.

Create a corridor along the river where the primary land management objective is supporting and maximizing natural river and floodplain ecosystem function;

Restore a more normative hydrograph and natural sediment transport processes where feasible.

Reconnect tributaries hydrologically by developing agreements to support in stream flows during critical periods.

Increase aquatic habitat complexity in areas of high ecological productivity such as tributary deltas.

In general, increase biodiversity and habitat complexity to support long-term ecosystem resilience in the face of climate change and related phenomena such as droughts, high water temperatures, and other unforeseen threats.

The plan identifies 22 project sites where targeted restoration actions have the potential to address observed limiting factors and improve the ecological function of the Madison River and its floodplain. For each of these potential project sites, one or more restoration strategies have been identified. While many more opportunities exist than these 22 project sites, these were identified as the most obvious potential restoration projects with immediate benefit to riparian habitat.

Ennis School Science Fair

MRF awarded two scholarships to watershed related projects at the Ennis School Science Fair Monday, January 22nd. Congratulations to Zane Morrison for his project “The (Amazing) Water Race” and Seeley Driscoll for her project “Why Do You Need the S in Stream?” Both projects used models to demonstrate their experiments and featured well-developed hypotheses.

Macroinvertebrate Study Update

In the fall of 2016 MRF began the upper Madison River Baseline Monitoring program with Montana Biological Survey and Stag Benethics by establishing eight long-term, monitoring stations between Hebgen Dam and Ennis for seasonal sampling of benthic macroinvertebrates. The fall 2016 and spring 2017 results were delivered to MRF in a baseline monitoring report. We’ve converted the results into a story map format.

Summer and fall 2017 sampling was also conducted. Spring sampling will occur in late April or May of this year. Those results will be released summer 2018.

Snowpack Update

NRCS Snow Water Equivalent as of March 8, 2018

The snowpack levels are looking good with the Madison Basin at 125% of the percentage of median snow water equivalent. The water-to-date precipitation for the basin is at 109% of the percentage of average.

NRCS recently launched a new interactive map that makes it easy to check the status of all SNOTEL monitoring stations:

Congratulations to Jan B. from Chicago for winning the end year raffle for a one of a kind fly plate donated with flies tied by Craig Mathews and photo from John Juracek!
Thank you to everyone who donated to the Foundation in 2017 to contribute to preserving, protecting, and enhancing the Madison River.

Over the next few months the Madison River Foundation will be teaming up with a number of local breweries in neighboring communities for “Pint Night” fundraising events where the foundation will get a donation per pint. The MRF team will be available to speak with community members about our upcoming projects as well as future volunteer opportunities. Keep your eye out for the Pint Night announcements on the MRF social media pages and stop by to show your support for the Madison River!